


Requiescat In Pacem, Commilito.

by Boxcult (Brynnen)



Category: Caduceus | Trauma Center Series
Genre: Acceptance, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Victor swears more than everyone else in the game, Wakes & Funerals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 18:16:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9504929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brynnen/pseuds/Boxcult
Summary: Just because life goes on, doesn't mean we can't take time to honour the dead.





	

Sidney settled down onto a seat at the funeral home and looked up ahead to the picture displayed on a large easel. Secretary Richard Anderson beamed out at the assembled congregation from the framed photograph, his presence still filling the room the way the veteran politician had when he'd been alive. Sidney adjusted his spectacles to cover the stabbing pain of another loss and breathed deeply through the pain.

  
Richard had helped Sidney pull Caduceus US up by its bootstraps, getting him the funding for labs and doctors, keeping their work in the senate's consciousness and building it into something that could equal the brilliance of its European and Asian counterparts. He'd been a mentor, cheerleader, fund acquirer and friend, so much more than half the people in the room would realise. A man willing to give his life to advance medicine and one who'd willingly spent his last days in agony to help Derek and Victor save lives beyond his own was no mere philanthropist, he was a hero and Sidney's life was diminished by the loss of that great man.

  
Someone dropping into the seat beside his drew Sidney out of his grief for the time being. He turned his head to greet his new companion and his eyebrows lifted in surprise. He hadn't realised Victor actually owned a suit and Sidney stared at him for a long moment. He'd never seen Victor in anything other than scrubs or his uniform. He looked even more physically unimposing in black suit and tie than he did in his uniform and the effort he'd made to comb his lank hair back from his face made him look even younger than normal.

  
'What the Hell are you looking at?' Victor's rough demand cut into Sidney's appraisal of his head of researcher.

  
'You look like shit.' Sidney didn't bother sugarcoating it for his brutally blunt genius. Even freshly showered, shaved and suited it was obvious Victor hadn't slept in days. Sidney suspected he hadn't eaten in that long either and internally sighed as he wondered how much caffeine the man had poured into himself to stay upright.

  
Victor crossed his arms defensively across his chest and shrugged. 'I feel like it too, but his nano is done. It makes the first version look like finger painting next to the fucken Mona Lisa.'

  
Sidney allowed a small smile to pull at his mouth. It was Victor's eulogy for one of very few people who'd earnt his respect. 'And the laser?'

  
'Tch, done and dusted! What kinda lazy ass dumbass do you think I am?' The arrogant little shoulder twitch made Victor look more like his usual self.

  
'So no more weirdly trailing wires?' Sidney had been genuinely alarmed at the sight of Victor's cobbled together invention. Derek's real courage in those terrifying, seat of the pants operations had been to dare to use that scary-looking contraption. The thing had been an electric shock waiting to happen.

  
'The higher rated cable arrived, his legacy is complete. Secretary Anderson's work won't just be used to take down GUILT; the nano, that laser, those techniques will be used to treat thousands more people than just GUILT victims. He'll be a hero of medical history.'

  
Which was the highest praise Victor was probably capable of giving to a non-scientist. His usual surly attitude had dropped as he stared off into space, listing slightly with tiredness. 'I thought he was just some stupid old ex-politician trying to stay relevant. I was wrong.'

  
His head swung around from the bit of space he'd been staring into to make eye-contact with Sidney. 'I'm glad I was wrong about him. He was Caduceus's through and through.' Victor gave a firm nod at the thought.

  
'He was.' Sidney agreed, glad someone else saw it, because sometimes the real heroes weren't the doctors saving lives, or the police officers and soldiers protecting them, but men and women giving the only thing they could to advance the common good - their lives.


End file.
